The Rapp Visiting Scholar Fund
This fund was established Sept. 2, 2016, with gifts from Dr. David Slate Williams (PhD 1978), his spouse, Louise Williams, and friends and family of Dr. Robert A. Rapp. Funds are used to support a visiting scholar in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. Support for this fund will enhance the interactions of faculty and students with outstanding people from outside the University.
The Rapp Fund supports a visiting scholar in the Department as recommended by the department's chair, in consultation with the department's faculty and with the approval of the dean of the College of Engineering.
The fund was created as an ongoing endowment that will provide money for the department in perpetuity. In the early years, when the fund is growing, the limited proceeds of the endowment (approximately 5% of the endowment value) will be utilized to provide support for visiting scholars in residence. A generous supporter has agreed to match donations from individuals to the fund. Donors might inquire if their employers match donations of this kind.
When the fund reaches its target level ($1M), it will convert to an Endowed Professorship to honor Dr. Rapp. Until attained, the department will use the proceeds to bring outstanding people to The Ohio State University. It is the department’s intention to continue the Visiting Scholars program after the Rapp Fund achieves endowed professor status.
About Dr. Rapp
Robert A. Rapp received his B.S. degree with honors in Metallurgical Engineering from Purdue University in 1956. He was the first recipient for the John Bray Award given to the outstanding senior in Metallurgical Engineering. Rapp received his M.S. degree in Metallurgical Engineering in 1958, and his Ph.D in 1959 from Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University).
In 1963, he joined the Department of Metallurgical Engineering at The Ohio State University as an Assistant Professor and in 1969 was elevated to Full Professor. In 1987, Dr. Rapp was named the first Mars G. Fontana Professor of Metallurgical Engineering. In 1988, he was named Distinguished University Professor.
He taught undergraduate courses in heat and mass calculations, thermodynamics and chemical metallurgy. He also taught graduate level courses in thermodynamics, kinetics, high-temperature materials, diffusion, point defects in compounds, and high-temperature corrosion.
During his teaching career, Dr. Rapp received numerous awards and accolades. In 1982, he was named a Distinguished Senior Research Scholar by Ohio State, and twice he received the Lumley Research Award of the College of Engineering. He has received the Whitney Award of NACE, a Distinguished Engineering Alumnus Award from Purdue, and the U.R. Evans Award from the British Institute of Corrosion. In 1988, he was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering. In 2000 he received the Institute of Metals’ (TMS) prestigious R.F. Mehl Medal. He received the ASM Gold Medal in 2000. In 2005, he received the ECS Olin Palladium Medal. He's been named a Fellow by TMS, ASM, NACE, ECS, the French Institute of Materials, the British Institute of Corrosion, and the Institute of Metals Japan.
Through his research, Dr. Rapp advised 45 PhD. students, 45 MS students and 47 Post-Doctorate researchers. Dr. Rapp authored or co-authored about 285 papers, chapters, and courses, with five Ohio State patents, and 14 other patents in the role of a consultant to industry.
Personally, Dr. Rapp married his wife Heidi in 1960. She died in 2015 after 54 years of happy marriage. Of their four children, three received Ohio State degrees (two in Metallurgical Engineering) and two married spouses from Ohio State. Of their 11 grandchildren, one graduated in Materials Science and Engineering at Ohio State in 2015, and a second will graduate from Ohio State in 2017.
On April 1, 1995, Dr. Rapp officially retired from teaching at Ohio State as a Distinguished University Professor Emeritus, but continued a research program for another 8 years, representing a 40-year career in teaching and research at Ohio State.